Kayaks

Featured review by Betsy Burden

Best for lakes and slow rivers, for anyone wanting an easy little boat with plenty of room for gear.

Been out in this 10-foot sit-in kayak for several trips this spring including a short camping trip upriver.  This one has plenty of room for gear including a dry hatch in back with a lockable rubber top that holds a small flexible cooler, a duffle bag, and room for more stuff crammed in the crannies. There's room behind the seat for a sleeping bag, room between your feet for more gear, and a installed criss-cross bungee kit on front of the kayak that can hold two chairs in bags. It has a couple of hooks and smaller little bungees around the cockpit to attach handy things like camera or phone.

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Featured review by Bill Rawlinson (Finalcut)

Super stable and tracks well. This is a great kayak for touring around lakes and rivers. Great for beginner paddlers and beyond.

I've been a canoer my entire life but decided that my big 15' canoe was a bit too heavy for me to man-handle alone so I sold it and bought the 12' Wilderness Systems Pungo 120 kayak which weighs about 49 pounds (30 pounds less than my old canoe).   I had never sat in a kayak before and I was a little nervous about how different it might be from my canoeing experience. My concerns were misplaced though because this kayak is very user friendly. Getting in and out of it is a breeze. The cockpit opening is HUGE and the boat is so stable I had no trouble standing up in the kayak on the water while holding onto nothing to help me get in/out.

Read more: Wilderness Systems Pungo 120 reviews (4)

Featured review by Christina Chu

Folds up to take up very little space; is lightweight and portable (don't need a special rack on my car).

Folds up to take up very little space (approximately 30" x 30" x 10"); is lightweight (~25 lbs) and portable (don't need a special rack on my car), fits inside a Ford Taurus' trunk (I have fold down seats in the back but it'll fit in a taurus without those seats too). Can be [semi-easily/inexpensively] checked on a plane! Folds out to ~25'. Tracks fairly straight in water. Can be tricky to unfold/refold without practice, but the Oru company's online videos are helpful. Material is similar to the white plastic corrugated material that post office bins are made out of.

Read more: Oru Kayak Bay ST reviews (2)

Reviewed by Paula Johanson

This inflatable folding kayak is portable on buses and inside SmartCars and by small people. A very dependable recreational kayak, well-made with a terrific warranty. Available from the manufacturer, some stores, and West Marine stores and website.

The Lagoon is my favourite kayak of the several different boats I own. I've used an older version of the Lagoon for eight years without it failing. It's still a reliable, convenient recreational kayak. Here's a photo of me using it for the first time, in 2006. This 9'6" kayak is very stable, very confidence-building, very responsive to the paddler's moves. Hundreds of times it's been inflated and used, then deflated and put away. I've banged it into docks, run it up onto rocky beaches, and waves shuffled me across barnacled rocks without any damage beyond a few light scratches on the outside of the outer hull.

Read more: Advanced Elements Lagoon1 review (1)

Reviewed by Ralph Troutman

Old Town produced a great family recreational kayak in the Twin Heron. Excellent learning kayak and wonderful for a quiet day on lake or stream. I've paddled most of my life and this is the most comfortable kayak or canoe I've had.

Visited the Old Town factory in Maine and found a great deal on a Twin Heron kayak. Couldn't wait to get it in the water! This 60-pound kayak is easy to handle out of the water with two carry handles and lots of places to grab when you lift it onto a vehicle. Unique colors even look good sitting on top. The kayak excels once you get it into its natural environment, a lake, pond, or quiet stream. The Twin Heron is easy to paddle and tracks well, hold plenty of gear, and the seats are comfortable for an extended trip.

Read more: Old Town Twin Heron review (1)

Featured review by Dean Myers

Great rec kayak for lakes and slow rivers, capable of light overnight trips.

Have had this kayak almost three years. I've dragged it, banged it, shot over ice and hit bottom more than a few times. Aside from a few scratches, the hull is perfectly intact.  It's easy to get in and out of, has a very comfortable and well adjustable seat, a fairly big water-tight hatch on the back (enough for a tent and sleeping gear), a little water-tight hatch on the dash for keys or a cellphone (I use this hatch regularly and it hasn't failed), adjustable foot stays, bungee tie-downs on the front top which hold extra gear well, a paddle holder, knee pads, and a good skirt lip.

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Reviewed by AlexT.

Extremely versatile, portable, easy to use "water SUV" that is perfect for any type of adventure one could imagine.

This review is for the Sea Eagle Explorer 380X Pro package. The major difference between Pro and Deluxe is the seats: I like Pro seats much better but for more information look it up at the manufacturer website. I've been using this kayak for three seasons now and the fourth season is approaching. The quality of the kayak itself is fairly good: the body/hull is intact and holds up well but some accessories that came with the kayak had been replaced during the warranty period. Specifically, paddles and the foot pump are the weakest links.

Read more: Sea Eagle Explorer 380x Pro Package review (1)

Featured review by Ray Mooney

Very good for flat water, but challenging for fishing.

UPDATE 8/28/16: Took the SE370 down Bear River in Colfax, Calif., for some low key white water. She stood up just fine, bounced off rocks and made the requisite hard turns to avoid bad spills. Came to a screeching halt at one point when we didn't clear a big rock. The kayak stopped dead, I went flying forward, and the seat pulled loose (but didn't leave the boat). I got settled back down, bounced the boat free and I was off again. No damage to the kayak at all. Overall, an excellent experience on my first experience with any kind of white water.  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I bought this kayak for fishing at my local reservoir.

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Featured review by Wade In The Water

One of the best balanced "all around" kayaks available. * See my review of the 2020 updated Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 below. *

The Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 is not marketed as a lightweight boat, so I'm not going to deduct points because it's heavy, but know that it is. The hatch covers look super cool, but I've yet to know one that doesn't leak.  So now you know the bad. Now let's talk about the good.   The seat is adjustable three different ways while you're sitting in it and offers one of the driest rides in the business. No sitting in a puddle. These attributes help make long days on the water even more enjoyable.

Read more: Wilderness Systems Tarpon 120 reviews (2)

Featured review by Wade In The Water

A versatile, high quality kayak built to last a lifetime.

The Wilderness Systems Tarpon 140 is not marketed as a lightweight boat, so I'm not going to deduct points because it's heavy, but know that it is. The Orbix hatches used on these boats look really cool and are convenient to open and close; but they all leak which some people consider a really big deal. I don't. Kayaking is a water sport. That means I and my stuff will probably get wet. Stuff I don't want wet I put in a dry bag; easy. You may feel differently. So that's the bad. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's talk about the good.

Read more: Wilderness Systems Tarpon 140 reviews (3)